Volume 01: Silver Seed
Silver Seed is the first volume of the Silver Diamond series. Publisher's Synopsis Rakan is a lonely orphaned teen with an unusual attraction to flowers and plants. Chigusa is his surprise guest, who arrives mysteriously one day out of nowhere. Together, these two uncover secrets about each other--including the fact that Rakan may be a special prince who Chigusa insists on protecting at all costs! From master storyteller Shiho Sugiura, comes a unique tale of adventure and emotion as two unlikely friends try to get used to new surroundings...and to each other. Plot Chapter 1: Silver Seed Chigusa stands in the alternate world, tree rifle at the ready. He aims at the Prince in the Capital and fires, but is suddenly caught in a spell, dragging him away. The scene suddenly shifts to Rakan, a high school student, who is giving away flowers grown in his garden; he’s famous for these flowers, as they are known to be beautiful and strong, every bit as good as a florist’s. Rakan returns home, where he has lived alone for the past year since his grandfather’s and mother’s deaths, and goes outside to water his garden. He finds Chigusa lying in a bed of flowers, unconscious. Upon going to investigate this man he’s never seen before, Chigusa wakes up and pins Rakan to the ground, attempting to fire his rifle at him. The rifle is near death and out of bullets, however, and in the momentary pause, Rakan touches the rifle. The rifle begins to grow branches, and Chigusa sticks it in the ground; a rifle tree reaches full maturity quickly. Both Rakan and Chigusa are confused: Rakan because of the growing rifle and Chigusa because the boy he thinks is the Prince is a Sanome. Realizing that Rakan is not the Prince, Chigusa hugs Rakan, calling him his “last hope”. An ayame appears, having been blown into Rakan’s world with Chigusa. Chigusa grabs a fruit off the rifle tree and closes Rakan’s hand around it, causing the fruit to grow into a rifle. Chigusa fires and kills the ayame. The two retire to Rakan’s house, where Rakan prepares tea and a list of questions for his visitor. He gives up after going in circles and sends Chigusa to bathe. Chigusa, however, is unfamiliar with the machines in Rakan’s house, and Rakan ends up having to show Chigusa how to use the bath correctly. While Chigusa undresses, Rakan observes the red bandages Chigusa is covered in and asks if he’s injured; Chigusa replies “no” and takes the bandages off, revealing unblemished skin. Rakan then walks Chigusa through the steps of bathing properly and drying off. Chapter 2: Golden Thread This chapter opens with Rakan’s memories of his amnesiac mother. When he was around two, he and his mother were found lying in a flower patch in the back yard of an old man, who, upon finding them, immediately adopted the two as his daughter and grandson, believing them to be from another world. Rakan’s life was a happy one, surrounded by a loving family who looked out for him even on their deathbeds. Rakan is awoken by the sound of his alarm clock ringing and subsequently being smashed flat by Chigusa, who gives him a cheerful “Good morning”; as Rakan prepares breakfast, he attempts to explain the difference between machines and creatures to Chigusa. Chigusa follows Rakan around the house as he does his chores, saying that Rakan is a “very valuable creature” and tells Rakan that he thinks Rakan is from his world because of his success growing plants and Rakan being all but identical to the Prince of Chigusa’s world. The scene shifts to citizens in the capital looking at a plant embedded in the side of a building, the result of Chigusa’s attack on the Prince in the previous chapter. As they wonder how they’ll remove the plant, the Prince and Kinrei come outside and the latter tells the citizens to leave the plant, noting that it will die eventually. He assures the citizens that the Prince is safe, with the Prince adding “The unlucky color of silver is no longer in this world” and reassuring the assembled people that they are the “chosen ones who will know the waking of the god that shines upon the sand”. The Prince and Kinrei leave, leaving the citizens to talk among themselves about Senroh. One had seen Senroh’s crucifixion in the desert and assures the group that Senroh is dead. Among the citizens are Narushige and Koh, who had been called there by someone. Narushige is interrupted in telling Koh who when the two are sucked into a spell. The scene switches back to Rakan, who is at school. His day is interrupted when someone notices Chigusa is hanging around the back school gate; Rakan runs out to confront him. A teacher is already there and asks Chigusa to explain who he is. Chigusa replies that he’s Rakan’s servant, and Rakan drags Chigusa away, angry at him for following Rakan. The two go shopping for clothes for Chigusa and food for dinner, and then return home. Rakan asks Chigusa to water the plants in the garden, but then goes after him, thinking that Chigusa won’t know how to use the hose. Standing in Rakan’s garden is Narushige and Koh, who upon seeing Chigusa attack him. Chigusa fends off the attack and calls Rakan, asking him to take a leaf off the gun tree. The leaf grows into a branch in Rakan’s hands, shocking the two new intruders, who draw the same conclusion Chigusa did at first: that Rakan is the both the Prince and a sanome. The four retire to Rakan’s house for dinner, where Narushige gets onto Chigusa for letting Rakan prepare and serve the food. Chapter 3: Watering Its morning, and Rakan is explaining what a TV is to Koh; Rakan notices that Chigusa didn’t react like Koh did when he first came to Rakan’s house. Chigusa enters the room and asks Rakan if he can borrow Rakan’s grandfather’s reading glasses. Chigusa’s sight isn’t bad, but that it “was better” if he couldn’t see as well. The four sit down to breakfast, and Narushige talks about the differences between his world and Rakan’s: his world’s sky is covered in clouds, not letting anyone see the sky beyond, the land is a desert, and there were no manufactured materials- most of the objects they use are from plants, like a clock nut. While doing chores, Rakan asks Narushige about Chigusa, admitting he knows nearly nothing about the man. Narushige tells Rakan of Chigusa’s apparent crucifixion and death. Rakan goes to the yard and Chigusa finds Narushige, asking him where Rakan went to. Narushige asks Chigusa how much he knows about the Rakan and if he knows why Rakan and the Prince look so similar. Chigusa replies that he doesn’t, but that with >Rakan by his side he can fight as long as he needed to against the Prince, who Chigusa says is a puppet. Rakan is out in the yard watering the plants, thinking over the recent events. A giant ayame appears and attacks Rakan, who yells. Chigusa jumps in front of Rakan and the ayame’s claw runs through Chigusa’s chest. He pulls out his gun and fires at the ayame, killing it. The ayame claws still embedded in his chest, Chigusa yanks them out and destroys them with his gun as well. Rakan is horrified at Chigusa’s wounds, but Chigusa attempts to reassure him. The blood coming from his wounds solidifies into bandages and wrap around his chest. Chigusa explains that because of the plant material mixed in his body, he can’t feel pain or die. Occasionally though, he warns, the plant could go out of control and Chigusa would go berserk; on those occasions, he asks Rakan to cut open his chest and squeeze his heart, which would return Chigusa to his senses. Rakan slaps Chigusa , angry that he doesn’t seem to understand Rakan’s worry over the injury and Chigusa’s own lack of concern over what happens to his body. Rakan storms off into his house, Chigusa bewildered. He follows Rakan, who apologizes for his outburst, but reasserts that Chigusa was in the wrong. Later that night, Chigusa and Narushige sit by the edge of Rakan’s bed, wishing that Rakan were the real Prince. Category:Volumes 1-9 Category:Volumes Volume Extras The US Tokyopop edition included two color pages in the front of the book and two pages of fanart submitted by readers at the end. Reviews Editions Sd1 english.jpg|Silver Diamond 1, English Edition Sd1 french.jpg|Silver Diamond 1, French Edition Sd1 german.jpg|Silver Diamond 1, German Edition sd1.jpg|Silver Diamond 1, Japanese Edition K1.jpg|Silver Diamond 1, Korean edition Category:Volumes 1-9 Category:Volumes